Grammar and vocabulary (Grammatik und Wortschatz)
What the section tests
Grammatik und Wortschatz tests control of the structures prescribed for Classes 11–12: verb conjugation and tense, the four cases, word order, modal verbs, prepositions, adjective endings and connectors. Items are usually gap-fill, sentence transformation, matching or error correction.
Core rules
- Main clause: the finite verb stands in position two. Subordinate clause with weil, dass, wenn, obwohl or damit: the finite verb goes to the end.
- Perfekt uses haben with most verbs and sein with movement or change-of-state verbs (gehen, fahren, kommen, aufstehen, werden, bleiben).
- Wechselpräpositionen (in, an, auf, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen) take the accusative for direction (Wohin?) and the dative for position (Wo?).
- Adjective endings depend on the article type: after der/die/das the ending is usually -e or -en; after ein/eine the adjective carries the case signal.
- Trennbare Verben split in main clauses (aufstehen → ich stehe um sechs auf) but stay together in subordinate clauses and with modal verbs.
Worked example
Complete: „Ich habe gestern ___ Schwester geholfen.“ Reasoning: helfen takes the dative, so meine Schwester becomes meiner Schwester. The sentence is Perfekt with haben, and the past participle geholfen stands at the end. Answer: meiner.
Traps that cost marks
- Using haben with gefahren or gekommen instead of sein.
- Putting the finite verb in the wrong place after weil or dass.
- Choosing the accusative after a Wo? question.
- Confusing das (article or pronoun) with dass (conjunction).
- Forgetting the separable prefix at the end: ich rufe dich morgen an.
- Ignoring noun gender and choosing the wrong article.